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U.S.-Ethiopian Occupation of Somalia
Millions
Displaced in "Worst Humanitarian Disaster"
By Glen Ford
George Bush, who
has violated every international law known to man, still
believes he has the moral authority to “law down the
law” to Robert Mugabe, in Zimbabwe. Bush took his
anti-Mugabe hysteria to Japan, this weekend, for the
yearly meeting of the world’s eight most powerful
industrial nations, the G-8. Seven African nations were
there as well, constituting the “African Outreach
Group.” They served notice on Bush, the Brits and other
rich countries that they continue to oppose sanctions
against Zimbabwe.
Meanwhile, the
United States is directly complicit in what the United
Nations has called the “worst humanitarian disaster” in
Africa. The Ethiopian invasion of Somalia, launched in
late 2006 with massive air, naval and logistical support
from the Americans, has resulted in the displacement of
3.5 million people, 700,000 from the capital city of
Mogadishu, alone. More than two-and-a-half million
Somalis face starvation – a figure that could rise to
three-and-a-half million by the end of this year. A
recent Amnesty International report on human rights
violations in Somalia, said Ethiopian soldiers have
begun “slaughtering Somalis like goats” – meaning,
killing them by cutting their throats. Amnesty
International’s Deputy Africa Director put it this way:
“'The people of Somalia are being killed, raped,
tortured; looting is widespread and entire neighborhoods
are being destroyed.”
“Ethiopian soldiers
have begun ‘slaughtering Somalis like goats’ – meaning,
killing them by cutting their throats.”
The U.S. has made
Ethiopia its hit man in the Horn of Africa, a decision
that is guaranteed to destabilize the entire region.
That’s part of the American modus operandi: to create
chaos – always resulting in mass deaths among the poor –
in order to declare Africans unfit to run their own
affairs. This is a theme that plays well among U.S.
corporate media, who have dutifully pushed the Bush line
on Zimbabwe, but go months without even mentioning the
American-made crisis in Somalia. Democratic Party
leadership is no better, including presidential
nominee-to-be Barack Obama, whose father was born in
Kenya, Somalia’s neighbor. Obama, the Speaker of the
House and the top Democrat in the Senate are all mum on
U.S. crimes against the Somali people.
Before the
Americans instigated the Ethiopians to invade Somalia,
something resembling peace had settle over the country.
Islamist groups had succeeded in defeating the warlords
that were bankrolled by the United States. Virtually all
reports indicated that Somalis had cause to hope for a
better future for the first time since the country
descended into chaos in 1992. But peace was unacceptable
to the United States, which is determined to militarize
the entire continent of Africa, in order to secure its
oil resources. Already, the Somali puppet government
installed by the Ethiopians and their American backers
is inviting international energy companies to exploit
their virgin oil reserves. This lust for oil has already
cost Somalia its national sovereignty. It may also cost
millions of lives.
BAR executive editor Glen Ford can
be contacted at
Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com
photo above:
Secretary Rice with Prime Minister Meles
Zenawi
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Other Reports
U.S. Used Base
in Ethiopia to Hunt Al Qaeda—The American military
quietly waged a campaign from Ethiopia last month to
capture or kill top leaders of Al Qaeda in the Horn of
Africa, including the use of an airstrip in eastern
Ethiopia to mount airstrikes against Islamic militants
in neighboring Somalia, according to American officials.
. . . While Washington resisted officially endorsing an
Ethiopian invasion, American officials from several
government agencies said that the Bush administration
decided last year that an incursion was the best option
to dislodge the Islamists from power. When the Ethiopian
offensive began on Dec. 24, it soon turned into a rout,
somewhat to the Americans’ surprise. Armed with American
intelligence, the Ethiopians’ tank columns, artillery
batteries and military jets made quick work of the
poorly trained and ill-equipped Islamist militia. . . .
A Navy flotilla began to search for ships that might be
carrying fleeing Qaeda operatives. Support planes were
deployed in Djibouti. F-15Es from Al Udeid air base in
Qatar also flew missions. Intelligence was shared with
Ethiopia and Kenya through C.I.A. operatives in each
country. American military planners also worked directly
with Ethiopian and Kenyan military officials.
NYTimes
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Getting Ethiopia out of Somalia—When
the Union of Islamic Courts defeated the U.S.—backed
warlords, the Bush administration—using the war on
terrorism as justification—supported the Ethiopian
occupation, arguing that the Islamists were an emerging
threat to U.S. interests. But approaching the complex
conflict in this simplistic way and linking it to the
war on terror was a mistake. The United States has
inadvertently stepped into a local, tribal and regional
quagmire. The resistance groups—clans, business groups
and Islamists - are challenging the occupying Ethiopian
troops and the warlord government in many ways. Recent
events in Mogadishu and Kismayo indicate that ignoring
their grievances will only perpetuate the conflict. The
fighting has multiple causes - competition for
resources, repression, the country's colonial legacy,
widespread atrocities and politicized clan identity.
Ethiopia, through its proxy warlords, was the principal
spoiler of peace efforts. Somalis fear that landlocked
Ethiopia wants to balkanize their country into
clan-based regions in order to get access to the sea.
Herald Tribine
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Return of the Warlords—Meles
Zenawi faces fierce opposition from various opposition
groups inside Ethiopia who accuse him of illegal
usurpation of political power, rigging election results,
arresting his critics, in some cases, killing hundred of
people taking part in peaceful protests against his
political misrule. Thus, the sudden invasion of Somalia
is a perfect strategy, for him to buttress his
legitimacy as a national leader who can defend Ethiopia
against Islamic terrorism. Internationally, he is able
to position himself and his nation as a friend of the
U.S .and Bush's strong man in the Horn of Africa in the
US global war against Islamic terror. It is in this
context, that Bush administration was able to quickly
push through the Security Council the rather dubious
resolution which gave Zenawi the green card to invade
Somalia. . . . . Meles Zenawi is a Christian, who draws
most of his political power and military support from
his Tigre tribe. As a result, his invading soldiers in
Somalia are largely from his Tigre Christian tribe.
These soldiers do not speak the Somali language; once
deep inside Somalia, they will be exposed to attacks by
the locals.
Ironically, Zenawi's invasion of Somalia
has killed any chance the weak transitional federal
government might have had to rule Somalia. The warlords
were hated before by all Somalis for their corruption.
Now they will be despised as traitors and stooges for
the number one enemy of the Somali people, Ethiopia.
Counterpunch
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Hopes and Prospects
By Noam Chomsky
In this urgent new book, Noam Chomsky
surveys the dangers and prospects of our
early twenty-first century. Exploring
challenges such as the growing gap
between North and South, American
exceptionalism (including under
President Barack Obama), the fiascos of
Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S.-Israeli
assault on Gaza, and the recent
financial bailouts, he also sees hope
for the future and a way to move
forward—in the democratic wave in Latin
America and in the global solidarity
movements that suggest "real progress
toward freedom and justice." Hopes and
Prospects is essential reading for
anyone who is concerned about the
primary challenges still facing the
human race. "This is a classic Chomsky
work: a bonfire of myths and lies,
sophistries and delusions. Noam Chomsky
is an enduring inspiration all over the
world—to millions, I suspect—for the
simple reason that he is a truth-teller
on an epic scale. I salute him." —John
Pilger
In dissecting the rhetoric and logic of
American empire and class domination, at
home and abroad, Chomsky continues a
longstanding and crucial work of
elucidation and activism . . .the
writing remains unswervingly rational
and principled throughout, and lends
bracing impetus to the real alternatives
before us.—Publisher's
Weekly
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Super Rich: A Guide to Having it All
By Russell Simmons
Russell Simmons knows firsthand that
wealth is rooted in much more than the
stock
market. True wealth has more to do with
what's in your heart than what's in your
wallet. Using this knowledge, Simmons
became one of America's shrewdest
entrepreneurs, achieving a level of
success that most investors only dream
about. No matter how much material gain
he accumulated, he never stopped lending
a hand to those less fortunate. In
Super Rich, Simmons uses his rare
blend of spiritual savvy and
street-smart wisdom to offer a new
definition of wealth-and share timeless
principles for developing an unshakable
sense of self that can weather any
financial storm. As Simmons says, "Happy
can make you money, but money can't make
you happy." |
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The New Jim Crow
Mass Incarceration in the Age of
Colorblindness
By Michele Alexander
Contrary to the
rosy picture of race embodied in Barack
Obama's political success and Oprah
Winfrey's financial success, legal
scholar Alexander argues vigorously and
persuasively that [w]e have not ended
racial caste in America; we have merely
redesigned it. Jim Crow and legal racial
segregation has been replaced by mass
incarceration as a system of social
control (More African Americans are
under correctional control today... than
were enslaved in 1850). Alexander
reviews American racial history from the
colonies to the Clinton administration,
delineating its transformation into the
war on drugs. She offers an acute
analysis of the effect of this mass
incarceration upon former inmates who
will be discriminated against, legally,
for the rest of their lives, denied
employment, housing, education, and
public benefits. Most provocatively, she
reveals how both the move toward
colorblindness and affirmative action
may blur our vision of injustice: most
Americans know and don't know the truth
about mass incarceration—but her
carefully researched, deeply engaging,
and thoroughly readable book should
change that.—Publishers
Weekly |
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The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
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Ancient African Nations
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The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
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Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
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Hurricane Carter
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The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
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Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
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January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
Haiti
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